Mother and Father
by 3fi-pina3
Summary: Dedication story. Cagalli, emotionally weak since the day her husband died. Raising a daughter on her own... Life's been tough. But an anniversary without him is harder...


Mother and Father

ONESHOT. Holy man. This was very unexpected. "A Knight's Tale" actor, Heath Ledger was found dead at 28. Personally, he was one of my favourite actors, so I was shocked to hear about this news. From the untimely event, I have decided to write about it. In his memory, I decided to name the story Mother and Father.

I haven't posted a lot of stuff anyways, so this could be good. Enjoy the story.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own it!! (

* * *

**Mother and Father

* * *

**

"Hello?"

"Is Ms. Cagalli Yula Athha around?"

"...Yes, speaking..."

"Good afternoon, this is Commander Giuseppe De La Roche. I'm afraid I have some bad news..."

_"Dead..."_

_"Dead..." _

_"Dead..." _

"I have come to inform you that your ex-husband, Athrun Zala, has passed away."

"..."

"..."

"M'am? M'am? Are you alright? Hello? Is anyone still on the line?"

_"Dead..." _

_"Dead..." _

_"Dead..." _

_"I told you so..."

* * *

_

The cordless phone slowly slipped off her hands and landed on the soft rug sprawled across the wooden floor. Against the wall, she slowly slid with the phone it utter shock, devestation, and heartbreak.

_"How did this happen?" _

A tear escaped from her eye, and she began to breathe heavily. More and more tears esacped and ran down her cheeks.

_"Athrun, can you hear me?" _

She held her face in her hands, full of sorrow and sadness.

_"Where are you?" _

How can she tell her? How can she explain? How can she live? How can **she** live?

_"You're cold..."

* * *

_

"You're so very cold..." she muttered to herself.

"Ma? What are you talking about? It's the middle of July, and it's always warm here in Orb."

A young girl of fifteen walked out of the washroom drying her hair off with a towel. She had beautiful long black hair, her mother's face, but her father's eyes. Those cold green eyes, the ones that continuosly haunted her mother.

"Avila..." Cagalli lightly scolded her.

"Oh...Sorry, mom."

Avila knew what had just happened. She had been doing that recently, actually she did this every year around this time. She would talk to her dad. Ever since she was little, she never had a father growing up, except for her uncle Kira. She had learned from her mother when she was young that her father lived in the sky, so it would be a long time until they would see him. It was only a few years ago that she realized he was dead.

Leaving her hair to be dried by the sun, she sat on her mother's bed.

"Hey, mom..."

"Yeah."

"Did you love him?" She asked quietly, shyly.

"I suppose you're talking about your father..." she replied kind of tempered, while fixing one of her drawers, "I did. I loved him very much. No one could ever understand our love for each other..." she took a breath, "Not even your Uncle Kira and Auntie Lacus..."

"How did he--?"

"Fighting for us. For the both of us..." she closed the drawer, "Let's get going, shall we? Are you ready?"

Cagalli walked out of the room, and Avila had a last look at herself in the mirror.

"Are you?" she whispered.

* * *

"Good morning, Lacus." Cagalli greeted happily as she saw her sister-in-law with her two children. The two cute-as-a-button twins sat in their high chair receiving spoonfuls from their mother.

"Are you heading out there now?" Lacus inquired while she went to her baby girl.

"Yeah. I know it's a bit early, but I haven't been visiting him lately. He might get mad at me." Cagalli said, with a hint of lonliness.

"You know Athrun when he gets lonely," Lacus replied slightly laughing. Athrun and her always related to each other she was like his twin.

Avila seemed slightly confused, even after all these years, she never understood why they still talked about her father like he was still alive. It was almost like he lived in another house or something. Although she doubted that: if he were still alive, he and her mother would be in the same house, in the same room, in the same bed. That was for sure.

Cagalli kissed her nephew and niece on the forehead before heading out. Lacus called out Avila.

"Watch your mother. Don't upset her, not today." Lacus warned.

"Yes, auntie." Avila smiled as she headed out for the car as well.

Cagalli went and opened the door of their red car and went inside. She waited for her daughter to come out through the doors, a few minutes later she did. She dressed in a white a-line skirt and a yellow tank top. Her skin was pale, just like her father's, but she had her energy.

"Let's go!" Avila smiled.

Cagalli smiled back, but didn't answer.

* * *

While they drove, the car remained silent, no music, no conversation.

Avila fidgeted in her seat. Her mother seemed even more uneasy, but concentrated on the road. The cemetary was 30 minutes from the house, not very far, but Cagalli hadn't had much time to visit him. She would end up coming home late, and the cemetary wasn't a favourable place for her to visit at night.

"Mom, I have a question."

"Mm Hmm?"

"How come you and daddy divorced?" Avila looked at the other passing cars.

"Hm? It was the best for us at the time," Cagalli defined vagueley, "I was a year older than you when I went into war."

All of a sudden she smiled, "That's where I met your father."

"Oh," Avila replied, interested for more.

"We were stuck on an island for about a day. He was friends with your uncle Kira. When he came aboard the ship I think we fell in love. I could never stop thinking about him, stop worrying about him, stop myself from falling into his charm. He was always very charming, he knew how to treat women. He was engaged to your Auntie Lacus."

"No!!" her daughter gasped in shock.

"Yeah. They were, but your father liked her as his sister, he liked me as me. He told me before the last battle, that he was thankful to have someone like me in his life. I had seen his eyes, the ones that you now have, full of love and excitement." Cagalli said proudly.

"The second time we went into war, he wasn't with me all the time. He left me in fact..." she reminisced.

"He gave me a ring. He fumbled trying to put it on my finger," she laughed, "One day, I'm going to give you that ring he gave me. Once you've found the guy you want to spend the rest of your life with..."

"He wanted to spend the rest of his life with you?" Avila said, fascinated.

"I guess so. Because then, a few years after we got married. Five years later, there was you, and there was another war. This time I couldn't come."

"But you wanted to..." she said solemnly, "Didn't you?"

"Yes, I did. Your father, however, wouldn't let me. I knew why, but I was too stuborn. We both saw the war coming, and decided that it was the best thing to do. I changed him once, then during the second war, he could have changed during the third. Your father and I were too young to realize what we were actually doing. Marrying each other was stupid..."

"Stupid? Mom, you love him. How is that stupid?" Avila pointed out.

"No one wanted us to be in love, it created more chaos. So in the event of the next war, we split up. We couldn't get back together again, however..."

A tear slipped out of Avila's eye, "That's so sad..."

She snickered, "I find it to be quite a remarkable story myself. Funny, how him and I were the main characters..."

Cagalli steered the car to the right into the cemetary. Slowly she drove, until they reached the spot. She stopped the car. They both stayed in their seats.

"Were you ever going to get back with him?"

"I was, and I was never going to split up with him again. I missed him too much. I still miss him now, but I guess that's how life goes."

Avila had never really thought about it, but now that she did her mom's life was a bunch of bullshit trying to crap on her dreams and hopes. Could someone really experience war three times in their lifetime? She admired her like that, she was still sane.

Cagalli had gotten out of the car and brought out two glasses and a bottle of very expensive wine. Avila slowly opened the door of the car, getting out very solemnly. It was a very sunny day out, but a bit breezy here and there.

Walking together to the spot, Cagalli tried to wipe back a few tears here and there. He was getting to her again, but how could she not cry?

"Hey, Athrun..." Cagalli spoke as she touched the tombstone where her husband lay beneath, "Happy Anniversary..."

Suddenly she began sobbing, falling to her knees. She leaned towards the tombstone... "I told her our story, Zala...Avila, our daughter. She's a big girl now."

Avila watched her mother in front of her, silently giving her own respects, making sure her mother wouldn't do anything drastic. A wind blew as Cagalli spoke more to her desceased husband.

"I know I keep tellin' ya she's a big girl, but that's because you weren't here to see her grow-up...Oh, Athrun. She's a beautiful girl, she has your eyes. But she never looks at me like you did. That's the only difference." she smoothed the tombstone.

"I told her our story, and even more...I was gonna get back with you. I still loved you, even now...When you're long gone. No one ever saw it, but you sure did. I wish you could see it now, because I'm even more in love with you than I was before the war. I'm sorry if you were offended by everything that's happened between us, and how it ended...But in the end, you must've known I still loved you...That's why you still went."

"As it nears our 17th anniversary, I find it hard to think that you're still not here. Even Lacus, she also cries when she can't turn to you. It's been too long, Athrun. We've missed you for too long. But I guess that's life for you. Always trying to get in the way of what you want most."

"Wherever you are, Athrun...Know that I'm still here, Avila's still here. We're all here..."

Cagalli opened the bottle of wine and poured it into the two champagne glasses. She placed one beside his grave. Avila came closer to check if her mom was okay, "Hi daddy..." she placed a hand on top of her mother's.

"Mom's been acting weird lately, she's been talking to herself a lot...But especially to you."

"I think you gotta come back..." she joked, "But I miss you too y'know? I've never even met you..."

"However, I would like to thank you. THank you for meeting mom, and giving me my life." she began to cry.

"My life of which I life with so much honour. You're a hero, dad. People still commemorate you, they still love you, they still admire you."

"I love you, dad..."

And the wind blew once more, and died.

* * *

I got really emotional writing this story. I'm not really fond of writing stories like this. It could have been better.

Again...RIP HL.

-3fi-pina3


End file.
